Graffiti Writers On The Forum

[Max Quinn]

Of course Blek le Rat is the original stencil king...

Also, anyone who has even a passing interest in graf should watch the 1980s documentary Style Wars, and also the film Wild Style. It was a whole different world back then. Man, what I'd give for a day in early eighties NYC...

Both awesome films. Did anyone see the Blek le Rat exhibition at the black rat press a few months ago? Was sick.

I think the line gets drawn when the graffiti is illegal. IE done at night without the "owner" of the walls consent.

Stuff used in modern/contemporary art, or things in a council backed scheme to liven up a tunnel or to cover an often "tagged" wall is good and is nice to look at. But when I kids spray "ART$" on the shutters at work and the windows have black specks on them and I have to spend all day cleaning them it's nothing short of a pain in the cock. And that then makes me think, the people who own those blocks of flats and have to spend £150 every month steam claning/repainting the walls must be really f**ked off too.

But you gotta understand that the 'good' and 'nice' stuff doesn't exist without illegal stuff. Alot of the time it's the illegal stuff that's pushing the art, and it's certainly the illegal stuff that created the art. You can't expect one to ever live without the other, unless councils make a looooad more legal walls and spots to hit but even then people will hit other places. A bmxer gets bored of riding just at a a skatepark you know?

And Mark, that happens at Watford alllll the time, dicks. To be honest i dislike anyone that tags in legal spots anyway, what's the point? You have all the time in the world and aren't gonna get done for it so why would anyone ever think they're a badman tagging there haha.

[Tony Harrison]

Stuff used in modern/contemporary art, or things in a council backed scheme to liven up a tunnel or to cover an often "tagged" wall is good and is nice to look at. But when I kids spray "ART$" on the shutters at work and the windows have black specks on them and I have to spend all day cleaning them it's nothing short of a pain in the cock. And that then makes me think, the people who own those blocks of flats and have to spend £150 every month steam claning/repainting the walls must be really f**ked off too.

Council backed? The council receive about 1,200 of my hard earned pounds each year, and do f'ck all for it.

I'm no great Banksy fan, but I'm a fan of words. Pictures are good, but they don't always get 'inside' the artist or the photographer. The following quote is from the Wall And Piece book...

"The greatest crimes in the world are not committed by people breaking the rules but by people following rules. It's people who follow orders that drop bombs and massacre villages."

I'll also add that I'm no 'red', 'lefty' or anti-war merchant. However, it's pretty clear that as animals we are easily conditioned. One man's art is another man's pain in the backside. I dare say selfishness is more obvious to those who suffer than to those who cause. For example, I have heard similar comments about graf from those who smoke - that'll be, those who make us breath their fumes. Hell, I'll bet there's a few motorists who've been pissed off by your driving now and then. What I'm trying to say is, just because you get pissed off scrubbing, it doesn't mean graf is necessarily a bad thing. Oh, and a lil' piece of advice from an old boss of mine: "If you don't like your job, get a different one".

[Simpson]

I know a few people do on the forum, but its the type of work that people prefer to keep on the "d low" like, posting illegal graffiti, on a public forum, where your name can be easily tracked and veiwed by others isn't the brightest idea in the book

Yea man looks mint... thats not art thats writing your name, nowt special about it...

Close? There are other vandal forums for that type of shit

same with the criminal damage you cause on peoples/councils walls?

hmmm i smell a hypocrite who wants to moan about everything possible

No its not about that at all, in none of what I wrote above did i tell people to not to do it, but i know through hearing from people such as "max quinn" on here that he was very cautious of posting up any of his work in his name, and I think if you do, do stuff like that then you would have to be dumb to post it up in your name with a big smile and a thumbs up to the police. And i do like some graff I'll be honest, but writing your name proves nothing, except that you can spell that.

Edited December 29, 2008 by Simpson

[Davetrials]

to be honest, its something that all young people can do in this country as not much is provided for us. cus unless your into ball sports ur a bit screwed (appart from skate/bmx)...

its a bit like ua and parkour, we use what available to us, and if you. and some people can probably only afford a spray can or whatever, and the good graffitti round my area isnt like there for the hell of it, they obviously spend time looking for a good walls to make what they do stand out and alot as fckin amazing!! ill get some pics next time im out, but to be honest the whole tagging thing is a little sad, i can understand the logic but its something i would of done when i was like 12, 'hey look everyone, im a nutter, i wrote asg ont hat wall there wooooooo'... hmmm good for you

but yea, i like graffitti, iv got this pic that i picked up in errm maybe dubai, cant remember... but a guy made it with just spray cans and a few pics of paper lol

heres a pic

its a crap pic, cus of the reflection and shit cam but still, its pretty cool

i used to make them, i was f**king good at them to lol, cept mine were on paper.

Edited December 29, 2008 by Hugh Hefner

[Christophe']

I knew this would get smashed down, lighten up trials forum you bunch or boring f**kers.

trials is litterally the most uncool sport ever.

and its you fags that make it that way.

to the guy that posted this go find a bmx forum, they know how to have a fun time.

Most trials riders have brains....

Ilegal graffiti isnt something that 99 percent of english trials riders would partake in.

If your bored, stop posting on here and go join a bmx forum?

[Tony Harrison]

And criminal damage from bashguards is?? Virtually every city I've been into has defaced monuments. Where do you draw the line? Also, doesn't the law make reference to riding on pavements?

Once again, we're very good at seeing the pro's of our pastime, but not good at seeing the same with others. Not all graffiti is illegal. Not all trials is illegal. But some aspects of both are.

[Christophe']

If I can put this in a very basic way,

Trials riders dont want to intentionaly harm public property, they just try and use it.(they dont want to leave a lasting mark)

Graffitti artists do want to .

There is a massive difference!!!

[Rich J]

If I can put this in a very basic way,

Trials riders dont want to intentionaly harm public property, they just try and use it.(they dont want to leave a lasting mark)

Graffitti artists do want to .

There is a massive difference!!!

Not all graffiti artists do? Some people are actually artists who only paint on locations, who see sense and work within the law. Not all trials riders care either.

[Christophe']

Not all graffiti artists do? Some people are actually artists who only paint on locations, who see sense and work within the law. Not all trials riders care either.

Tru and I respect that!

If artwork is done legaly it all makes sense.

[Skoze]

If artwork is done legaly it all makes sense.

I can see where you're coming from, but why doean't the illegal stuff make sense? It's all the same, in essence. The illegal stuff even more so to me. It's usually a lot more personal to the artist. I admire the illegals more, takes alot more ingenuity and dedication to get to the real sweet spots and get your work up...

A quote from a certain artist : "Van Gogh used short, stumpy brush strokes to convey his insanity - I use short, thin ledges above mainline train tracks"

[Mark W]

If I can put this in a very basic way,

Trials riders dont want to intentionaly harm public property, they just try and use it.(they dont want to leave a lasting mark)

Graffitti artists do want to .

There is a massive difference!!!

What lasts longer, paint or gouges in rock/brickwork? It's fairly straight forward to clean graffiti off (They do it at Southbank once a week to all the walls that aren't the 'legal' graffiti area), yet I doubt it'd be quite as easy to as seamlessly repair the block next to it that trials riders always slip to bash on? Trials riders might not 'want' to go to bash, but it's pretty obviously going to happen, especially if you're pushing yourself, so surely it's more irresponsible to do something like that, rather than something that can easily be rectified? Not really trying to 'back' illegal tagging in shitty places, but saying that bashing the shit out of walls is less damaging than applying paint to a surface that can be cleaned seems fairly misguided.

[Danny]

Maybe someone should invent bashguard tires.

[Mark W]

Maybe everyone should go UCI and get better reaction times

[Rich J]

Maybe someone should invent bashguard tires.

Surely bashguards with rubber on would actually be a good idea.......

This thread seems to be turning into what maybe socially correct as some views and others who are less so. I feel that people who are spraying what I would call rubbish, scribbled names, tags, racist abuse, this is wrong. This type of graffiti also from what I have noticed does seem to appear on property such as house walls or shops. I do however appreciate what I would call art, pieces with meaning, or with style and effort included, however I do still feel this maybe upon property which is illegal, but does appear to be inplaces which is less "publicly" owned and less likely to cause problems? Maybe....

[bikeperson45]

Now I know who to look out for

[Tomm]

Maybe someone should invent bashguard tires.

Tarty did some designs for that aaaages ago. But I don't think they ever got made because people became obsessed with small bashrings, hacking them up for lightness, not making them heavier

[Max Quinn]

If I can put this in a very basic way,

Trials riders dont want to intentionaly harm public property, they just try and use it.(they dont want to leave a lasting mark)

Graffitti artists do want to .

There is a massive difference!!!

That's bullshit Graffiti artists don't go out thinking 'aahh im gonna go damage loadsa property', they go out thinking 'yer i'm gonna go paint some pretty letters'

Likewise, trials riders don't go out thinking 'aahh i'm gonna go destroy some walls', they just go out wanting to learn tricks.

I can only speak for myself, and like I've already said i'm not denying that there's alot of c**ts in graffiti (same for trials really), but criminal damage is generally not the main goal of a writer. For a start, if your art is really damaging it will get removed straight away or the police will get more hot on you. An example of this is how when spraying trains you never spray over the carriage numbers and a few other bits, because if you do the train has to be resprayed immediately, which costs alot of money for train companies and means your art gets taken down straight away. But then there's also the fact that even graffiti artists DO have some morals. Another unwritten rule is no hitting private property or small businesses, which i admit may sometimes be broken by over zelous beginners, but that's like the fact that the whole no riding on churches, war memorials etc is often broken by some trails riders. I know someone will argue, 'oohh but then the government have to spend taxes cleaning it etc' but it's exactly the same as trials and let's face it, the government aren't exactly amazing at spending our taxes anyway.

Your basically talking alot of rubbish about something you know nothing about, i'm all up for a difference of opinions but the assumption that all graff artists DO want to harm public property as their main goal is just straight up uneducated.

[Mark W]

Tarty did some designs for that aaaages ago. But I don't think they ever got made because people became obsessed with small bashrings, hacking them up for lightness, not making them heavier

To be fair, it'd have to be some pretty hefty rubber to withstand the weight of a rider crashing down on it, with a thin little metal ring trying to push through it? The bashring would just mash the crap out of it...

[JT!]

Maybe someone should invent bashguard tires.

[Haz]

You might not scratch the wall with one of those, but with best part of 70 kilos dropping on such a small area, it's now to the wall whether its doing to loose a chunk.

[mista-neos]

Back on the subject of graffiti, I went out on a little stroll today down my local spots and it seems some "tagfag" had some fun with chrome and a fat cap and went over all my graff. I’m thinking of going to war with them.

[Token]

Back on the subject of graffiti, I went out on a little stroll today down my local spots and it seems some "tagfag" had some fun with chrome and a fat cap and went over all my graff. I’m thinking of going to war with them.

That doesn't sound too gay. I bet there is other stuff you could do with your time.

[NicP]

That doesn't sound too gay. I bet there is other stuff you could do with your time.

If you know what he means by war fair enough I appologise, if you think he's gonna go out and stab them or have a turf war type thing then stop talking and look up the terms.

Edited December 31, 2008 by NicP

[mista-neos]

I'm not going to "shank them up" I’m going to go over the graffiti, I spend my time and my money on paint so I don't want to waste that.

[Token]

Why are you apologising for you weirdo? I don't need to look up the 'terms' an I certainly don't need to stop talking.